Abuse of teen at Lee County youth center probed

OPELIKA, Alabama — An attorney representing a 15-year-old former resident of the Lee County Youth Development Center says his client is doing fine after receiving a third-degree burn from a cigarette lighter in May.

Tuskegee attorney Robert S. Thompson says the lighter was held to his client's leg.

The Department of Human Resources on Wednesday filed a complaint of torture/willful abuse of a child under 18 years of age by responsible person on behalf of the 15-year-old from Tuskegee.

Opelika Police Capt. Allan Elkins says the teen appeared to be passed out in the shower when a 32-year-old employee of the facility, who believed the teen was faking, used a cigarette lighter to burn his leg. When the juvenile did not respond, medical treatment was summoned.